Centrifugal speed-governor.



F. L. SMSTH.

'CENTRIFUGAL SPEED GOVERNOR.

APPUCATION FILED MAR; 16. 1914.

1,167,850 Patented 11111.11, 19m

,drive a cone? FRANK L.

Sil ji l d PATENT OFFICE,

OF WINTHROP, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE APPLE ELECTRIC ZEQE IPANY, OE DAYTQ'N, GHIO, A. CORPORATION OF OHIO.

CENTRIEUGAL SPEED-GOVERNOR.

Spccificetion of Letters Eatent.

Patented Jan. 11, 1916.

To e'ZZ 'w/lom 2 c mcem Be it lillOull that l, FRANK L. SMITH, citizen of the United States, residing at lVmt-hrop, county of Sufi'oll: and State of Messachuse have invented certain new and useful I zprovements in Centrifugal Speed-Governors, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in speed governor One of the o gects of my invention is to provide a se tive, reliable, simple and and links, having no weer or in Y invention is to proolling governor whichwill to variations of speed, as .cticel absence of frictional respond mi? a result ofthc L resistance of l which is superinduoed by the internal friction of such devices and which invariably produces hunting, or

undulations of speed, of the machine to be driven.

My improved speed governor is designed to be used i: situations wherein an inconstant driving ver-the minimum speed of which is es great, or greater, than the maximum spe the machine to be driven -'is employed 3 drive a machine at a predetermined c nt speed, as when a water wheel. or. van

machine, or t like.

The especial use-for which my speed governor is particularly well adapted is for maintaining constant speed of an electric lighting dyneino, for an automobile equipment, when the power for the dynamo is to be derived n the vehicle propelling engine, or in t lighting systems wherein power may i then from the axle of the eoeobvto drive the dynamo.

There are other uses and purposes for which my invention is well adapted which will readily ooe to persons skilled in the art, and which wil become manifest from a. consideration of the following description when taken in conjunction with the drawings wherein-- Figure 1 is elevation of the looking governor, toward the machine to be driven.

Fig, 2 1s a. central section, taken on line 22 of Fig, 1. Fig, 3 isa. transverse section,

speed governor, which is e parts, thereby evoiding.

idle speed. engine is used to L- potentisl dynamo electric course it is evident that instead of the.

groove, a sprocket wheel or gear wheel, or other driving means, may be substituted.

Secured in a groove 8" on the fece of the part 5 is an annular, friction driving surface-'8 through which the part 6'1s dr1ven.

The driven part 6 comprises a sleeve 9, sup.-

ported in a ball bearing 10, within the hollow portion'of the driving member 5, it is hollow for reception of the shaft 11 and is secured thereto as by set screws 12. The sleeve 11 is reduced in diameter at its outer end, as at 13 and screw threaded forreception of an adjusting nut H. The screw threaded portion 13 is slotted, as at 15, to receive the variable spring 16. Encompassing the sleeve, or hub 9, is e'disk 17' having an annular frictional engaging surface 18, adapted to bear against the insertible frictionel surface 8, of the driving member 5. The spring 16 presses the two frictionally engaging surfaces together, with more or less tension. The extent of pressure being made adjustable varying the tension of the spring by means ol' the nut 14: upon the hollow threaded end 13 of the sleeve 9. The

spring 16' consists of a steel bar deflected at semi-annular ribs 18 and 19projecting from the member 17, and thereby becomes a driver of the part '17, rotatably connecting the sleeve 9 with the disk 17. The member 5 is counter-bored to provide a recess 20 and the member 17 is similarly counterbored to provide a. recess 20. Within the two part chamber thus provided, when the two members 5 and 17 are in-the position shown in Fig. 2, a plurality of centrifugally actuated rolling wedge members such as steel balls 21, are included. A hardened steel ring, 22, made of ordinary steel wire, is placed in the 4 chamber 20, of the member 17, upon the surface of which the rolling wedge members, or

balls 21, ride When they are thrown outwardly. by the eilectof centrifugal motion.

The centrifugally impelled balls 21, find opposite bearing on a loose, washer 23, that surrounds the sleeve 9 and abuts against the annular ridge 24 formed onithesleeve 9 the balls thus being retained between two subradial ribs'24, thus to provide radiating surfaces for the dissipation of heat that may be. evolved .by the relative frictionalqslip be- 'tween-the-members .5 and 17. Asa further means for-dimipating and ofi the heat I provide a rtures through the wall of the member 1 7? near the, sleeve 9, through tated rapidly,into the ball chainber'QOf and I from which the air will ass, through apertures 26 that are locate farther frointhe axis of the member 17 v and nearto the ex- ,Qreme radial limit ofsaid chamber. I These cases .of icooling the parts may not in all 'p' ventyirapld deterioration ,when the parts flgreof are maintained at substantially uniform'tcmpe at QThe operation of the device is substantially asfollowsz- When the driving part 5 is, rotated, by an. suitable power transmittinglmane its I ictional engagement with S0 the driven inember 17, through the friction hill-face 8 and the surface 18 causes the-lattear to be rotated, owing to the pressure .pro-

, e the the s eeve, 9, as by the slot 15, the sleeve is' .duced by the spring 16, axially moving the disk 17 on the sleeve 9, causing these surfaces to be pressed firmlyinto. contact. As ring 16 has ,rotary engagement with .rbmea thereby, it being understood of course'thabthe spring 16 rests in spaces inbetween the driving ribs 18 and :19ofthe member 17, so that it operates as i a po'sitive'drive, connecting the parts 9 and 17 together.

When the rotative speed 'of'the device has reached a. predeterminedvelocity the roll- I ing wed e members, in the present instance exempl' ed by hardened steel balls 21, will be thrownoutwa'rdly in a substantial radial or tangential plane" and then, when making contact with the steel ring 22, will force the parts 5 and 17 apart, to a greater or less extent, against the resilient action of the spring 16, so that the friction surfaces 8 sivespeed of the members, being re resented by the extent of slip between the rics01 -lpcity, the more forcibly will themballs -21 tional engaging parts. 'The greater the vebe wedged between the bearing ring 22 and the washer 23 and. to a substantially correspending degree will the driving frictional engagement of the 'parts be decreased. When a be' necess'ary but they contribute to. {the oonshncy of operation of the deviceand' the balls 21' are outwardly projected, in the manner described, they. forcethe member 17 away from the disk 23 thereby providing a practically frictionless bearing, between -,=stantiaily relatively stationary The-- said members, so that the range of ineffec- -member 17 is provided, at intervals, with .tive operation, or lag of response, due to the friction of the parts is, practically, thus eliminated, and over governing and nude governing is substantially avoided. v

When the balls are projected outwardly,

by an increase of speed, they must be. so arranged that they will be returned by some means, in this case the return is effected automatically as theresult of the pressure of thesp'ring 16, whichforcesthern outoftheir location of interposition between the driving and driven member. This is accomplished bveach ball contacting with the surfaces against which they are wedged on one sideof a diametric line through the ball, other-- 'wise, -when I the centrifugal efiect would cause the balls to be projected outwardly to jforce the contacting parts apart, they would .remainin the positions-towhich they had been forced by the,.'incre ase of speed, and would'not be returned, upon the, cessation of such increase of What I mean by a range of inactivity is that in governors of this general type, wherein friction is present to such an extent as to be highly. objectionable, the speed responsive mechanism does not act at the actual critical change of speed, but its operation is delayed ,until the speed has increased beyond the point at which it'should have been changed and therefore the velocity is then so great that the governor.

over governs, so to speak, and thereby reduces the speedof the driven member to a greater extent than required, -the friction.

of the-parts again operatin'gito delay the governing efl'ect of the devicetoincrease the speed of the driven member thereby-prw ducing a hunting efiect or undulatory motion, instead of a constant motion of the driven member, 1

'When the speed at which the driven mem her is to be maintained-constant, is to be increased, adjustment may be effected to ac complish this result by turning the nut 14,

on the hollow sleeve/9, to increasefthe tension ;of the spring 16. The projections 14, from the nut l i, are s'ufiiciently wideapart to include the spring 16 between any two of themand thereby the nut'14 is held against unintentional rotary displacementi As shown, the nut 14' may be rotated and fixed at each one sixth of a a revolution on the screw; The threads 13, of the. sleeve9, may be made as fine or as coarse as desired so as to effect a greater or less axial. movement of the spring the nut 14.

While I have herein shown a single em- 16 at a given rotary movement. of

bodiment of my invention, for the purpose he of clear dischasnre it is manifest that changes may be made in the structure-Within the scope of the appended clai-r Having described my invention, What I claim is 1. A speed governor comprising rotatable driving and driven members; a yielding; means for forcing said members into frictional driving enmwement, and centriiw gally actuated, rolling,,wedge members contacting with one of said members only and rotatixely car 'icd thereby, actuating under speed to tend to force said members out of their driving frictional engagement.

:2. A governor comprising rotatable driving and driven members; a yielding means for forcing said members into frictional driving engagement and a plurality of centrifugally actuated balls rotatively carried by one of said members, acting under speed to tend to force said members out of their frictional engagement and means to automatically return the said balls out of their forcible contact with said members upon the decrease of speed.

3. A speed governor comprising rotatable driving and driven elements, a yieldingmeans for forcings'aicl elements into "Eric tional driving engagement, a pair Of ln81fibers carried by one of the elements freely movable axially relatively to each other, and a plurality of centrifugally actuated balls rotatably carried'between said'members, acting under increased speed to move radially outwardly into contact with said members thereby tending to force the element on which said} members are carried out of driving frictional engagement Will-ll he other element and permiltio yielding means to return them to position out of operative contact.

with said members upon decrease of speed.

l. is s oeecl governor comprising a rotatable driving and a d' iven disk, raid disks havingcoopera faces and cacl frictional driving snroiled with an axially concentric recess to jointly pro 'ide a chamber :tor centrilugelly a hated, separating memhers; means .ror yield! races into fllC'tL n mea "ly forcing said surgage; Lent; icr, adapted to exert said disks when means for forcthe said chamber to cool the parts.

sgeedgovernor comprising a driving a 11 member; a yielding member said members into frictional engagement, and centrii'ugally acturolling, Wedge members contacting the driven member and rotatively acting under speed to tend a member out of engage- 1 "1e driving member.

6. )1 speed governor comprising rotatable driving and driven members, one of Which is axially movable, resilient means for forcing said members in frictional driving engagement, an axially fixed abutment rotatiyely associated with the axially movable member, and centrifugally actuated rolling Wedge members interposed between the abutment and axially movable member, acting under eeds to tend to disenea e said mem-' thereby. a clutch member axially movableon the driving shaft, the end or" said shaft being screw threaded and diametrically slotted, a spring positioned in said slot with its ends bearing against the clutch member to normally hold the same in engagement e driven member a not engaging of said shaft and bearing against the leaf spring to vary the tension thereof, and centriingally actuated. means the clutch member axially for moving against the nressure or the snring.

in testimony whereoi I hereunto set my hand in the presence or two subscrlbing Witnesses.

ERA UK L. SELTETF centriin ally actuated means. 

